"I am above you and will remain so for sufficient time. I will monitor. Please proceed." He flashed his own face on their screen, gave a reassuring nod, then presented them with the readout and the orders for changing the drugs.

The Lehiroh noted the changes, ordered the Holot to write them down, then opened the side of Jindigar's bed frame and began manually adjusting settings. As the numbers for the others came onscreen, the Holot dictated them while writing them on the portable screenboard hanging at the foot of each bed. The Lehiroh made the adjustments. By the time he finished, Seum was stirring. Arlai dictated another change, and the whole thing was repeated twice more.

At last Jindigar opened his eyes, peering about him Wearily. The windows had turned to reflective black as the lights came on. He raised his head on hunched shoulders, glimpsed the other two of his team, then collapsed back onto the bed with a gusty sigh. Then he saw Krinata. "You came!"

Gratitude flooded from his eyes to hers, and she was warmed. Arlai called, "Jindigar, how do you feel?"

Recognizing the voice, he twisted his head to catch sight of the screen. Krinata tilted the unit so he could see, and Arlai appeared behind the numerals. Computer and Immortal grinned at each other. Then Jindigar said, "I feel terrible. Are you doing this?"

"All my fault. Want something for the headache?"

"Sure. But nothing will blunt the other ache."

Then the other two Dushau were greeting Arlai, getting the whole story of Finemar's embarrassment which could have been fatal to them, and dragging themselves to their feet to dress. The two attendants helped the others while Krinata fetched Jindigar's tunic and shoes.

Jindigar introduced Arlai to the piol, and petted it as he struggled into his clothing, and wound his turban. Then he placed the piol on top of his head, signed them all out of the infirmary and led the way back toward Krinata's office, which was several stories underground.

She halted them at the ground floor. "It's well past working hours, and I just don't want to go back there today."

Jindigar checked his leptolizer for the time. His was a simple, polished steel model, hardly longer than a finger, the old-fashioned, unadorned model that could do everything the cumbersome heraldry-decorated one could do, and weighed less than a third as much. The one the Emperor had given him hung at his belt with Fedeewarn's.

''I didn't realize it was so late. I'm sorry. You go on home, and we'll check in at the embassy."

"The Dushau embassy is closed for the day."

"That's peculiar," said one of the Dushau.

Realizing he owed introductions, Jindigar said, "Krinata, this is Dinai, Protector of Kamminth, and Seum, Formulator of Kamminth. Krinata Zavaronne, our debriefing officer. I've worked with her often, and found her most competent. Perhaps we even owe her our lives. But now I must get to a screen and talk privately to Arlai."

She noticed Jindigar's teeth weren't nearly as blue as they ought to be. "You all aren't well enough to be running around hunting a hotel. Come on home with me. I've a guest room, and one of you can have the sitting room." Seum was leaning against the wall as if he couldn't stand upright, and Dinai was panting. Jindigar stood straight, but he was too stiff—resisting weakness. "I'll order in some food, and you can reach Arlai privately. Use your leptolizer in my system, and even a Proctor's trace would take all night."

"Proctor's trace," repeated Seum, a kind of creeping horror penetrating his dullness. "Jindigar..."

"Hold fast, zunre. Krinata, we accept your kind offer."

They went down to the tube level and Krinata used her leptolizer to call a larger car than she'd used to get to work that morning. Even so, the three Dushau filled it. Must remember to use a Number Five with them! she thought, and clicked her leptolizer into the receptacle. Relaxing, she pivoted the seat to look at her wilted guests.

Jindigar examined the comunit, then tried his leptolizer in its slot. "No. Only the new design will fit this. Krinata?"

"I have the old-fashioned machine at home. I'll just take off the adapter for you. Only a few minutes."

The indigo faces before her set into field-hardened endurance. It must have seemed like centuries to them, but was really only minutes. The lift put them a few steps from her apartment door. When her leptolizer beam touched the door, it evoked her moronic apartment Sentient who began her routine greeting and announcement of supper being served.

"Wait a moment, Fiella," she said. "Company." She apologized to the Dushau. "Fiella isn't in Arlai's class, but she's totally reliable." Then she dropped her leptolizer into its home slot and asked, "Fiella, how would you like a friend to visit you for the evening?"

Fiella put her simulacrum, an overweight grandmotherly human, on the sitting-room screen and made flustered sounds. Krinata warned Fiella, then pulled her leptolizer and the adapter out and motioned Jindigar to insert his and evoke Arlai. "They'll get along well enough, I think. Fiella is always polite, and Arlai seems... cosmopolitan."

"That he is," avered Jindigar.

Seum and Dinai had stretched out flat on the rose carpet and were doing exercises as if they hurt all over, which she was sure they did after the convulsions. The piol sat watching them, head cocked to one side.

The screen came alive with a full-length view of Fiella standing on a pink field, just the color of the sitting-room carpet, as Arlai walked on screen. The two greeted each other as if they were incarnates, and turned to face their audience. "How may we..." began Arlai, and then seemed to notice Seum and Dinai. "Are you trying to knock yourselves out?" he asked sharply.

They stopped doing leg lifts, and Seum answered, rolling on his side. "From what we've learned, Arlai, we'd better get back into shape again quickly. Is there any faster way?"

"You might eat something and get some sleep first!" Arlai answered with the anger of the overprotective.

When Jindigar said, "Agreed," Fiella glanced at Arlai with genuine respect. "Arlai, send us—and Krinata—a good meal, then we'll confer over these latest developments. Meanwhile, get us an update on Finemar's condition."

"Done!" answered Arlai, earning another marveling look from Fiella. "Survey Base Infirmary has been shut down, all in-patients transferred to Groundschool Hospital. They're talking about deprogramming Finemar. I've been recommending mercy; none of this was his fault."

Dinai sat up, hugging his knees to pull his toes out of the piol's grip. "What do you mean? Whose fault was it?"

"Someone with a very high-priority leptolizer amended his programs and inserted blinds so he wouldn't notice his oversights. It was a flesh agency, not a Sentient. My only clue is that when Fedeewarn died, a Lehiroh male of very high birth was trying to question her."

"Question her," said Seum, awestruck at the audacity or stupidity. "Arlai, who was it?" He raked the room with a glance, as if searching for the threat. "That man is three times a murderer."

"I realize that. I've been trying to reach our embassy, but their Sentient doesn't answer."

Jindigar swept the piol up, fondled it, and asked, "Arlai, do you remember the Interregnum—Casey's Planet? That's our situation, I think. My mind is clearing, but I'm still not sure...."

The Interregnum had ended with the birth of the Allegiancy. Krinata had never heard of Casey's Planet.

Arlai said thoughtfully, "They're coming tomorrow to give me the new programming—"

Jindigar lunged forward on his seat. "Countermand!" he said. "Don't let anyone—repeat anyone—tamper with your programming. Tell them I've restricted your servicing to Dushaun Station only. Let them deal with me."